1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to feeding and milking assemblies and more particularly to feeding and milking assemblies in which the animals are located on a movable feed platform. The invention further relates to a method of milking an animal using such a movable feed platform.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods and devices are known for milking animals in which the animals are located on movable platforms. Such known devices are generally provided with individual stalls or confining elements to prevent movement of the animals on the platform. Additionally, the animals are generally not free to board the platform themselves but must be led or driven there by a herdsman or the like. In certain cases the animals are effectively housed on the platform semi-permanently and may only be led off for brief intervals. Such devices may suffer from the disadvantage that a dairy animal finds it unpleasant to be milked in a closed area, such as the stalls provided on the platform which limit the freedom of movement of a dairy animal to a high extent. Furthermore, dairy animals appear to experience walking to and boarding the platform as unpleasant and may therefore by very unwilling to be led to or from the platform, which may result in problems to get an animal onto or from the platform, leading to insufficient occupation of the platform and thus reduced milk production. In addition some animals may find the extreme long stay on the platform as unpleasant, as a result of which they might be very unwilling to be led to the platform. Devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,358,000, U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,912, U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,058 and US-A1-2002/0033138.
Another device is known from FR-A-2,649,858. The housing system as used in FR-A-2,649,858 is not explicitly described, but since the animals have to enter the circular platform from within the platform it is most likely that the animals have to be led from the outside of the platform towards the inside. In addition the assembly known from FR-A-2,649,858 also suffers from the disadvantage that a dairy animal to be milked is in a closed area, such as the stalls provided on the platform disclosed therein which limit the freedom of movement of a dairy animal to a high extent. Each stall is closed by two gates, so that this also restricts the free movement of animals since an animal has to board the platform at a specific position. Furthermore, dairy animals appear to experience walking to and boarding the platform as unpleasant and may therefore by very unwilling to be led to the platform, which may result in problems to get an animal onto or from the platform, leading to insufficient occupation of the platform and thus reduced milk production.
A further method of milking an animal is known from international patent application WO 02/19807 and the article “Rund und ohne Futtertisch”, DLZ Agrarmagazin, of March 2002, pages 120 and 121. Herein a platform is described, which is provided with individual milking stalls, each milking stall comprising the associated teat cups and its own feed trough. The access to and the exit from the platform is controlled by means of a number of controlled gates. When the animals are to be milked, automatic driving devices are used to drive the cows towards the platform. During milking the rotational speed of the platform is adjusted in such a way that an animal will spend approximately 10 to 15 minutes on the platform (i.e. one rotation of the platform will take 10 to 15 minutes). When there is no need for milking, the platform is used as a feed platform. In this case the automatic driving devices are not used, but the controlled gates are. Moreover, the rotational speed of the platform is adjusted in such a way that one rotation will take approximately 30 minutes. Although this known method may be expected to provide an enhanced efficiency when milking large herds, it has a number of drawbacks limiting its efficiency. It has been found that the use of automatic driving devices leads to unrest with some of the dairy animals, and these animals may then be inclined to consider the platform as unpleasant. This unrest will not only result in a reduced milk yield with some animals, but these animals will also be inclined not to go to the platform voluntarily. Consequently, when there is no need for milking, and the platform is used as a feed platform, these animals will walk more slowly to the platform or even block the gates. This may lead to further unrest and to insufficient feed consumption, which is undesirable, of course. A further drawback of this known method is that the dairy animals are not able to go voluntarily to the platform for being milked.